WALESKA — The Waleska City Council discussed the possibility of hosting new events as well as the upcoming Homestead Option Sales Tax informational sessions at its Tuesday meeting.

City Clerk Aimee Abernathy said the city’s cleanup day is Saturday.

“The Dumpster will be delivered Friday afternoon,” Abernathy said. “It will be available for Saturday.”

Abernathy also asked board members what they would like to do with surplus items the city is no longer using, including five four-drawer filing cabinets, two fireproof cabinets and three small two-drawer cabinets.

“My thoughts are since there’s so few, it’s not like it’s a bunch of stuff, if somebody wants it, you know, have it,” Councilman Hill Cochran said.

The council unanimously decided to surplus the items.

“I hope that we have no drama with it,” Abernathy said. “I hope.”

Councilwoman Mary Helen Lamb also asked the board about possibly having a “shred day” sponsored by the city for residents to come and shred their documents.

“I could sure use a shred day,” Lamb said. “I’ve just found lots of stuff as we’ve cleaned out that doesn’t need to go in the trash.”

Abernathy said the city has documents that are intended to be shredded as well and would look into hosting a shredding event.

“If we wanted to set a budget and if we wanted to provide that to the community, we could do it,” Abernathy said. “I would need to inquire.”

Councilwoman Edna Cook said taking a box full of documents to be shredded to the company costs only $5, but having the company come out to the city may cost $125.

The council also approved 6-0 a proclamation declaring Sept. 17-23 as Constitution Week. Abernathy said the Daughters of the American Revolution requested that the city renew the proclamation each year.

Additionally, Jones updated the council about the upcoming Homestead Option Sales Tax, or HOST, that will be on the Nov. 6 ballot and would be a 1 percent sales tax used to roll back property taxes.

“I got this information from (County Commission Chairman) Buzz (Ahrens) a couple weeks back for the November ballot,” Jones said, telling council members there will be two upcoming educational forums on the tax.

One forum will begin at 8 a.m. Sept. 25 at the Northside Hospital-Cherokee Conference Center and the second forum will be held 6 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Chambers at City Center in Woodstock.

“I really would encourage you all, if you could possibly attend one of these, to do so,” Jones said.

Cochran asked Jones whether it was true that revenue would not be shared with any municipalities and both Abernathy and Jones confirmed as such. He also asked whether the tax would force the city to adjust its own tax.

“We wouldn’t,” Abernathy said. “Because county residents will still have to pay a fire tax (and) they’ll still have to pay for parks. The city of Waleska residents … the residents’ fire tax is still different than the county’s property tax. What the city charges as a city property tax would not be affected at all.”

Jones also encouraged council members to attend Patriot Day, a 9/11 memorial event hosted by local public safety agencies at the Public Safety Memorial in downtown Canton at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Additionally, Jones updated the council about the outcome of last week’s Volunteer Aging Council Gala.

“It was a sellout,” Jones said. “It was the best we ever had.”

She thanked the council for their help in raising money for the mayor’s Top Hat Challenge.

“We almost won that top hat,” Jones said. “We did not win it, but we came very close. I told (Woodstock Mayor) Donnie (Henriquez), ‘you better watch it. We’ll get you next year.’”

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